catnip
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Post by catnip on Oct 18, 2012 22:37:51 GMT -5
I really really like the idea of bringing in the powers from the Talent series. It isn't that much of a stretch to imagine the Pern characters with them, especially here, with the taileds.
For a mutation, a wingless dragon could be interesting.
I don't know that we really need any more color variations, since it seems to me that we've got a fairly decent amount, and ones that are fairly balanced at that.
I'm not really sure why our characters would care about holdless trying to form their own hold, it just doesn't seem like something that a rider would really care about, but perhaps you have something up your sleeve there? Maybe the holdless need a rescue or something like that.
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Post by Whim on Oct 18, 2012 22:47:45 GMT -5
Alright, so probably no new color mutations for now. (Easier for me, so I have no complaints there.)
As for the holdless hold--well, they'd need protection from Thread, to start with. Assuming they weren't on or in contact with the Southern continent, they'd be in a pretty remote area, and the Weyrs would have to scramble a bit to guard them, learn the jump images, etc. Plus, there's always the chance that they're a militaristic Hold, with Fax-style plots, or that they want to be recognized as a Hold, are refused, find an injured dragonrider (Na?), and decide said dragonrider as a hostage would make a very nice bargaining chip....
I can create plots out of basically anything that destabilizes the way things are, though admittedly not all of them would have too much to do with Cat's Paw Weyr.
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Post by summerrain on Oct 18, 2012 22:49:41 GMT -5
I think a double wing mutation would be cool. Like dragonflies, but a dragon with a double set of wings?
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Post by Whim on Oct 18, 2012 23:05:51 GMT -5
I have had a few ideas long those lines; both typical double wings, and secondary wing sets. I think they'd be fairly likely if we add other mutations, though needing new art may delay them a bit.
And a poll is now up! You have eleven votes for eleven plots; most are 'yes,' 'no,' or 'I don't care,' but psychic also has 'yes to some but not all' as an option.
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Coal
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Post by Coal on Oct 19, 2012 1:39:58 GMT -5
I like the idea of a new Hold trying to form; they could even be quite aggressive and possibly threaten the existing Holds, so the Weyr is like 'do we protect these people from Thread or do we protect our original people from them?'
As for psychic powers, I do like the idea but only if the powers are quite small. Being able to talk to people telepathically or teleport gives an individual a huge advantage over others, so maybe if a character did have those abilities they would have to work really, really hard to learn how to use them, and even they get tired doing so? I'm just thinking that if psychic characters get too powerful there might be too much of a divide between them and regular, non-psychic characters.
Actually, I've just had a very random idea. Please feel free to shoot down if it's stupid, it's half seven in the morning here so it probably is *rubs sleep from eyes*. Anyway, perhaps there could be one single new colour mutation with extremely strong mental powers, but these can only be expressed through their rider. Impressing one thus gives you the ability to use psychic powers but you still have to learn to use them and it's all very scary at first for the winglet. This way the powers will become only as widespread as the staff would like, and it gives an explanation of where the powers came from.
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Post by Whim on Oct 19, 2012 17:18:06 GMT -5
Bolded the parts that I particularly would like discussion on.
Alright, so going by the poll, we definitely want opposite gender dragons, albino/melanistic/leucistic dragons, and "other mutations," including missing or extra limbs, scales, and whatever else I can think of. I'm fine with all this, and will work on it. All these can be fairly easily included in this hatching, so here's my question: which of these plots do you want to see first, or does anyone care?
Fertile non-queen females, oddly sized dragons, and the holdless Hold all got yes to don't care responses, so I'll assume those are yeses too unless something more comes up, though they'll take a bit to set up.
There seem to be very mixed opinions on new mutation colors, brown-level dragons catching queens, finding the Southern continent, and psychic abilities. Those would all take more time to work on anyway, so I'll leave them for now and we can keep discussing.
That leaves cross impression, princes with female riders and queens with male riders, with mostly yes and one no vote, which I would leave, but that would be fairly easy to work into the hatching. So, can we discuss a bit more and come to a decision on that?
To Coal: I'm a bit leery of the psychic power-granting dragon, just because of the sheer degree of Special that would come with; everyone would want one. It could be adapted into something, but that exact form I'd be a bit cautious of. (My current idea for psychic power is that it's mostly awoken by trauma of some kind.)
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Post by summerrain on Oct 19, 2012 17:26:01 GMT -5
I love the idea of scales and double wings, even double tails. I don't mind the odly sized dragons, as long as it's not anything rediculously crazy, like a Queen that's only 14 feet long at maturity. I also have a bit of a soft spot for dual-colored dragons, but that's Whim's decision.
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Post by Whim on Oct 19, 2012 17:28:43 GMT -5
New thought: What if cross-impressing was a mutation? Most queen and princes would still go only for same gender riders, but once in a while one would have a mutation to either go for the opposite gender or to just not care.
And right, chimerism! I knew I was forgetting something. Well, what's everyone's opinion on chimera (dragons with two colors) mutations?
Summer: So you'd like to see the other mutations first?
*edit* Or, alternately: Should I just include the possibilities for mutations when generating hatchlings (I use a system where each hatchling gets a set of random numbers; one for rank, one for type, and eventually one for yes/no/which mutation), and see what happens?
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Post by summerrain on Oct 19, 2012 17:32:45 GMT -5
Well, it's more on the idea of building up to the biggest ones. Like, starting small and growing.
Color mutations would be the most genetically possible.
Size mutations would be next.
Then extra/missing limbs.
The rarest would be the Cross-Impression mutation. I'm pretty sure it has to do with a chemical in the dragon's brain, whether they Impress a girl or a guy.
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Na
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Post by Na on Oct 19, 2012 19:24:38 GMT -5
A chimera, would that be different from like Hravarth who is dark red with light red roses?
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catnip
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Post by catnip on Oct 19, 2012 19:28:52 GMT -5
I think that cross impression is a good idea for a mutation, that chimerism is cool, and might also be a good way to use the cross impression: ex: a male bronze/gold cross might impress a female, or a female Onyx/Crest pairing might impress a male.
Adding the possibilities to when the hatchlings are generated would probably be the best idea, then it would be more realistic since you could have one mutation, or none, or a whole bunch in a clutch. Exceptions could be made too, if there was something you wanted to do for an impression but it didn't get rolled.
Also, for mutations, a sterile prince level dragon could bring some interesting drama, especially if they caught a queen and she didn't have any eggs.
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Post by Whim on Oct 19, 2012 19:36:58 GMT -5
Na: A chimera would be two different colors; blue and bronze on the same dragon, for example. Hravarth just has patterns in the same color, which I don't think are in canon Pern, but are normal for Cat's Paw's purposes.
So, does anyone distinctly not want chimerism, or have any objections to my just adding the mutations that everyone likes (including chimerism, if everyone likes that) to the hatching possibilities and seeing what happens?
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catnip
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Post by catnip on Oct 19, 2012 19:46:13 GMT -5
No objections from me.
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Coal
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Post by Coal on Oct 20, 2012 3:18:24 GMT -5
I am perfectly happy with opposite gender dragons, physical mutations (missing limbs, etc.) albinism/luecism and everything else already down as wanted by everyone, and I don't mind at all in what order they appear. I'm also perfectly happy with the idea of cross-Impression, and in fact, along with opposite gender dragons, this is one of the things I'd most like to see XD Having it as a type of mutation makes a lot of sense; I do think it should still be rare for a prince to go to a girl, and possibly even rare for a queen to go to a guy.
Oh, and I would love to see chimeras too! <3 Quick question; would a dragon that was a male/female chimera, say green-blue, be genderless or hermaphroditic (and possibly identify with one gender or another) or would they just be male or female, or would it vary between individuals?
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Post by Whim on Oct 20, 2012 3:57:41 GMT -5
Most of the time, I've seen chimeras as one base/primary color, which determines their rank and gender, with the second/chimera color only affecting their appearance. I'd have no problem with them being more of a hybrid of the colors, though I think that that could lead to basically any result for the dragon's gender.
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